Antenna Services From $149
YOUR LOCAL BLOKE, NOT A FRANCHISE

Ellenbrook's grown faster than just about anywhere in Perth — I remember when it was all paddocks out here. Now it's thousands of houses, and a good chunk of them have antenna problems that trace back to when they were built. Developers install the cheapest antenna going during construction. It works for two years, maybe three, then starts playing up right when your warranty's expired.

Had a call from a bloke in Aveley last winter whose antenna was less than four years old and already falling apart. The mounting bracket had rusted through, the coax cable they'd run through the wall cavity was cheap RG59 instead of proper quad-shield RG6, and the antenna itself was a budget model that couldn't pull in the weaker channels. Replaced the lot and he couldn't believe the difference.

The Vines & Tree Canopy Problems

The Vines is interesting — it's got more tree cover than most of Ellenbrook because of the old vineyard landscapes and the golf course. Some of those homes back onto big established trees that sit right between the house and the Bickley transmitter. In those cases, I often need to go with a higher mast — sometimes three metres above the roofline — just to clear the canopy.

Signal Drops on the Fringe

Two-storey homes are everywhere in Ellenbrook's newer sections, and they create signal shadows for the single-storey places next door. If you're in a single-storey surrounded by two-storey neighbours, you might need a taller mast or a higher-gain antenna to compensate. It's not your antenna's fault — it's geometry.

Henley Brook and the edges near Upper Swan are further from transmitters, so signal strength drops off. A standard antenna that works fine in Ellenbrook proper might not cut it out there — you'd want a high-gain model or potentially a masthead amplifier to boost the signal before it travels through the cable to your TV.